So I get to work yesterday and I patch into a phone hookup. As I enter the hookup some people are already on the line talking.. and I hear one person say "What about the result last night?" I immediately jump in and say "yeah! Fantastic wasnt it. First Black President of the USA". I then hear the same voice come back at me; "I was talking about the soccer.."
Enough said really.
Very soon America should have it's first black President. How do I know that? Well I don't actually but I am hopeful. And why am I hopeful or why do I even care? Afterall I live in Sydney Australia far removed from the affairs of the great US of A and their associated politics. Yeah right! If any one outside of the USA thinks they are untouched by their poltical affairs and policies then you only need reference Iraq and Wall Street.
I love the fact that Romilly can talk. Its the simple things like that which you take for granted.
So we have finally gone on a proper family holiday - it's the first one since Romilly was born - that's almost two years ago! So its been a long time coming. Its been planned to coincide with my cousin Matt and Karen's wedding. So we are headed up north to Byron Bay and then the Gold Coast and Tweed.
Day one, was a quick four hours drive from Sydney to Port Macquarie, helped along the way by a Navman courtesy of Annabelle's grandfather. We spent the night in "Port" before continuing the drive up to Byron Bay the following day.
In Byron Bay we are staying in a five star resort called the Byron at Byron which is extremely nice! Whilst the room we are staying in is a little on the small side, it has all of the mod cons and the actual resort is very nice.
So what are the highlights (and lowlights) so far.. we have been a little bit disappointed with Byron Bay itself, give me Port Douglas any time. And in terms of the beach we actually prefer Lennox Head. Whilst at Lennox Head Romilly loved spending time on the beach - running in and out of the water and chasing one unfortunate seagull on the beach. Infact I haven't seen Romilly run so much and have so much fun ever! She loved every minute of it. I can see the time on the beach is going to be a regular thing for us and Romilly - I don't know what she loves more the beach or the park!
We also have a spa bath in our room and on the first night I thought I would relax in it for half an hour or so.. Romilly quite likes her baths so she was intrigued that I was in this huge deep bath. Anyway, I turned the spa on with Romilly looking on, but I hadn't put enough water in the bath and a jet of water from one of the spas squirted up and got poor Romilly in the face - much to her distress but our enjoyment of course. Yes I know we are awful evil parents.
Romilly has also managed to not only count to ten all by herself on this trip but she has also been able to recite half of the alphabet (A to J). Not to mention all of the new words which she seems to come out with daily - including calling her mum "sweetie" and "Annabelle".
Yesterday I had my first ever encounter with a day spa - yes its all very metro-sexual I know isn't it. So I had a remedial massage (full body except for the bits which you wouldn't expect to be massaged by a professional, well not this type of professional anyway). And I have to tell you it was good.. I always thought that that sort of thing was just a waste of money, and which I do think it is a lot of money, heck we are on holiday and it was worth every cent.
Today we went for a drive to Nimbin. Wow. Within 5 minutes of being there I was offered drugs and within 15 minutes of that I was offered drugs again. And I guess that that sums Nimbin up. Its very alternative. And I have to tell you I really liked the village and the vibe. I have never come across such a happy and friendly place before. Everyone is so friendly.. but I guess if you spend most of your time on weed then you probably would walk around being happy. Eitherway, its only a small spot on the map but well worth a visit is you ask me.
Ok I admit it. Im addicted to Sex and the City - you know, as in the Television show. Why? I dont know.. I had managed to never watch a single episode until about 4 weeks ago. Now I'm totally addicted - what gives? Yes I know the show has come to an end, but Im watching re-runs on cable - and loving it.
Yes it must appeal to the feminine side of me. Actually I was kinda shocked at how rude it is.. I didnt expect it to be so, not that that bothers me, I just didnt expect it. And I now also have a new appreciation of Sarah Jessica Parker. I never really used to liked her. But Charlotte steals the show really doesnt she.
Ok I admit it. Im a sucker for hype - but I really want an iPhone. To be honest Im not that fussed on the 3G flavor - as I don't really care too much for the web browsing and 3G content of it. If anything I could do any web browsing via using the phone connected to a wifi - and it scares me the amount of data usage that these beasts would suck up! The problem is that Apple never released the original 2G iPhone in Australia. Sure I could get one on Ebay which is jailbroken but I dont know if I like that idea.
So it would seem - the 3G version is the only real option. The other problem is that is doesnt appear to be being released to Three (as in the carrier). Which is the carrier that I am currently with. It would mean that I would have to break my existing contract and to go someone else like Optus, Vodaphone or Telstra. This isnt such a big deal though as it wont cost me too much to break my current contract.
The other option is that I dont get an iPhone and I simply get an iPod Touch - which pretty much does the same as the iPhone (particularly now with an updated firmware) except it doesnt have the phone capabilities. Although part of the attraction is that the iPhone means you dont need a iPod anymore as they are intergrated.
I guess I will sit it out for a few months and see how things pan out, will Three get the iPhone, will the data plans come down in price, with the price of the iPhone and the Touch settle. Who knows. Or as some would say - who cares :)
I find it quite incredible that whilst Romilly isnt even two years old yet - she pretty much is able to understand everything that we can - and follow out quite specific commands. Yesterday I noticed that she had a pocket on her pajama top, so I said to her - put your dummy in your pocket. Not even thinking she knew what a pocket was - she proceeded to take her dummy out of her mouth and put it in the pocket of her pajamas. I could not believe it.
The range of her vocabulary is quite incredible also, she is coming out with new words every day now.. some of them I dont know where she gets them from - for example she slipped off the lounge the other day and simple said (as clear as day); "Oh! Dear!". She obviously got that from day care.
She is able to repeat most words now, and even the ones which are more difficult she can say after a day or two of coaching. The interesting thing that we have found is that if she can say a word then she will just come straight out and say it. But if its a word which she doesnt think she can say, she wont even attempt it. She will just look at you and you can see in her eyes that she is trying to say it in her head - but she wont verbalise it. But, if you keep saying it to her and asking her to say it, within a day or so she will normally just come out and say it - and get it pretty close to spot on. I wonder if thats unusual - that she waits until she knows she can say it in her head before she attempts it.
This morning she said "bum"!!
Little Romilly is also somewhat or an organiser. She likes to make sure that things are in a row (the correct order), or that things like pillows are all lined up. I also find that quite interesting.. she likes to open and close things also.
Such an interesting little thing is our Romilly.
Its interesting. A month or so ago (yes I know I need to get up to date with my blogs) when the cycle ripped through Burma and the local Government refused aid and aid workers to enter the country for the better of their people, I thought to myself isnt this the reason that counties go to war? Not that I am necessarily an advocate of war - although Im realistic enough to know that war is part of the human race (yes History does repeat itself) and it isnt going away. But war isnt and shouldnt be about oil, or arms, or the trading of arms. If there was a reason for war - isnt this the reason? The fact that a Government refused the help of other nations to save their own people - particularly when it is clear that the help is both needed and warranted?
A about a month later this article was posted on the Sydney Morning Herald. Interesting. I dont agree with all of the points.
I like it how Romilly will now wake up, get out of bed and then open the door up and come up/down stairs to greet us after a sleep.
My sister in law has tagged and challenged me to post seven random facts about myself. So off the top of my head here they are (I didnt say they would be interesting..)
- I have a mitral valve prolapse
- I used to live in Wollongong
- I play drums and bass guitar in a 'band'
- I like Goldfrapp
- My favourite thing in the world is laying next to my daughter and breathing in the air that she exhales
- The only foods I really dislike (apart from offal) are leeches and artichokes
- I used to dye my hair burgandy and black (not at the same time)
I managed to install OSX 10.5.1 Leopard - which is the operating system for an Apple Mac onto my PC the other day. Which I must admit I was rather pleased with. Its not running in a virtual machine, its running native as a dual boot along side Windows (flavored Vista at the moment). Whilst its common enough to be able to installed Windows on a Apple, its not that common to be able to install and run a Mac OS on an IBM Pc. Although if you follow the guides on line its really not that difficult - just rare thats all. Infact to be honest the install was very very easy to do. And Im quite chuffed about it.
So what do I think of OSX - I like it. Particularly Leopard - have I turned to the 'dark side' - yeah maybe I have and I think I would be inclined to run it as my standard OS of choice except Mac's just dont have the same range of software available that Windows does - dare I say it. So if I can find replacements for all of my standard Windows apps then yes I think I would like to turn to the dark side.
A special shout out goes to Romilly's cousin - Boo Boo (from Rollercoaster Parenting fame) who has managed to toilet train herself at a remarkable age of two!
So you all probably know that Im a made Duran Duran fan.. yeah I know its kinda lame - but its part of who I am. So when they recently toured Australia I stalked them with my camera :) Well I didnt really, but I did take my camera along to a few of their shows and managed to get a few good photographs of them. It was great - it allowed me to combine two of my great passions - Duran Duran and Photography.
Links to all of Pictures from the shows can be found on the Duran Page.
Tonight Romilly pointed to a picture of my mother and said "Nanny". This in itself isnt noteworthy except the fact that my mother passed away a year before Romilly was born.
It was kinda freaky when Annabelle told me what she did, as I dont ever recall that we have pointed 'nanny' out in any photographs before.
Have to say that I am loving Keane's Hopes and Fears. I dont know how I missed this when it was released in 2004. But it's one of my favourite Cd's at the moment.
It amazes me just how quickly an infant - Romilly in this case - develops. The amount of words and things she understands is incredible. And her vocabulary is forever increasing at a rate - she said "Poo" today for the first time - which raised a giggle from both me and belle. We really need to watch what we say now as she is starting to repeat what we say.
But the other day she managed to put two words together for the first time. She has been able to say 'more' and 'no' for ages - but when Annabelle was reading her a book the other night she said 'no more' indicating that she had had enough of the book.
The other cute thing that she does is she puts her hands up and says 'all gone' when something is well.. all gone.
It used to be cool to like Duran Duran - that was the 80's then in the 90's it was very uncool. Now it seems that its cool again.
This was taken at the V Festival in Melbourne 5th April 2008.
So I turned up at Romilly's day care the other afternoon to pick her up and take her home. As I entered the main room I thought I saw Romilly in the distance, so I entered the room and declared "Hello sausage" (which is what we call her). To the amusement of her carers they said - ermm thats not her. She is in the back room having a nap.
Well it looked like her :) Rest assured that Im confident that I wouldnt have come home with the wrong baby. It was embarrassing all the same.
Well now Ms Romilly can say "I want that".. its not perfect but its pretty clear what she is saying.. and also knows "mine"... [worry].
This week we moved Romilly into her own room.. its only taken us almost 18 months. Thats only half true I guess. As we vacated the main bedroom several months ago and left the master bedroom with the en suite in it to Ms Romilly whilst we slept in other parts of the house. Who is the master of the house you ask? "Mine".
We have started to get into the habit of taking Romilly to the park. She loves it! She particularly likes the swing, closely followed by the slippery dip. We have our own naming convention for the parks we visit (straight from the Daniel Parking Naming Convention). We have 'dark park'; which is the park closest to our house. Its called dark park because - simply, its a dark park. At night it looks quite seedy - but we dont visit it at night so thats ok. There is also 'chrissy park' which is the park near where my cousin Chris lives, and then there is 'after work park' which is the park we take Romilly to after work on the way home. She particularly likes a trip to the park when we pick her up from day care after work.
Here are some picture taken today.
Today in the car Romilly said "Water". Over the last few weeks she has start to say quite a few new words, with "Nah" and "No" being the favourite at the moment. She also knows "Yes" and "Yeah" and understands more words that she can say. Its interesting now that we can offer her choices (she doesnt always make the best choice and at times I wonder if she even knows that she is making a choice) and more so that she is able to tell us what she wants. Today she also picked up my work building pass which has a picture of me on and she she pointed it at and said "daddy". That was nice :)
As a kid I used to wonder why my dad always took so long on the loo. I mean he used to be in there for what seemed like hours; and me, I couldnt get out of there quick enough. Its not the sort of place that you normally wanted to or needed to hang around. You had a job to do and you just did it. Do your business and get out of there.
Well all of that has changed now. As a parent myself - I now understand. And I now find myself spending an extended amount of time in the bathroom on the loo. Its the only place where you can escape to get some privacy - it really is the throne of sanctuary.
Annabelle has a top ten song intros list.. I don't know if I have a top 10, but Duran Duran's Red Carpet Massacre has my favourite song intro at the moment.
For a while now I have been predicting that Romilly would be walking by Xmas, thats only two days away now. And whilst I no longer think we will meet that objective (maybe by the new year), today Romilly did actually take her first steps in what we considered to be a walk.
Lunch with her great grand parents saw her take about 6 or so steps - proper steps - as she walked between Annabelle and myself. It was most definitely a walk.
Little Miss managed to pull a cup of coffee (lucky it wasnt hot) over herself at about 7.00am this morning. So we found ourselves having a very early bath.
Romilly's sleeping has gotten better - infact a heap better - thanks to the Baby Whisperer who has managed to knock her into a proper sleeping routine. Lets hope she sticks to it.
The other day Annabelle said 'bye-bye' and Romilly proceeded to lift her arm and wave at her and then said "see-ya". We just looked at each other with the "we didnt teach her that" look in our eyes. Clearly she is observing things at day care. She is also soooo close to walking now. Infact she wants to spend more time standing and cruising then she does sitting down. Her favourite game (and my least favourite) is her holding onto my fingers (one for each hand) and then walking around the house). I mean its nice - but not all day long.
To get into the festive season and spirit I decided to drape xmas lights over our standing stone yesterday.. whilst it sounds tacky it actually looks really really good :)
I think Im going to sell my car and buy a scooter. Being a two car family Im just not using my car much these days and its way too expensive to keep it on the road for those rare occasions when I do use it. I scooter has to be a cheaper alternative.
I have to say that Im not liking the whole idea of people posting pictures of other people on the internet. With the popularity of websites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook people are taking it upon themselves to not only breach their own privacy but also breaching yours and my privacy.
New technologies bring new concepts I guess. Im not against pictures of me being on the internet - infact I post enough of them myself. But I dont necessarily like the idea of someone else taking it upon themselves to create a portfolio of pictures of me. I particularly dont like the idea of the picture then being tagged with my name.
One or Two pictures of me on your website is flattering, a dozen or so if kinda creepy.
